EAT IRON FORTIFIED RICE and SAY GOODBYE TO ANEMIA

Iron Fortified Rice (IFR) will be launched in Olongapo City in October and will be available soon in the market.

It is part of Mayor James Gordon, Jr.’s efforts to fight Iron Deficiency Anemia on children and adults in Olongapo City. The program is called Iron Fortified Rice (IFR) or “Bigas na dinagdagan o sinangkapan ng IRON,” as a medium-term strategy for the control of nutritional anemia.

“Rice is an excellent vehicle for fortification, because Filipinos are basically rice-eating people regardless of income. Rice is the staple food in all regions of the country, although it is commonly combined with corn in the central Philippines. If fortified rice was distributed to the general population, it would reach practically every Filipino,” Mayor Gordon explained.

He added that fortification is a strategy geared towards improving the nutritional quality of the food supply and it will be effective and feasible when the vehicle chosen is widely consumed by the population at risk.

Based on 2003 National Nutrition Survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST) the following groups are anemic or suffering from IDA: 7 out of 10 infants aged 6 months to less than I year; 3 out of 10 children aged 1 to 5 years old; 4 out of ten young children aged 6-12 years old ; 4 out of 10 pregnant women and 4 out of ten lactating women.

According to research, micronutrient malnutrition is now the focus of the world’s nutrition community because of its largely covert deleterious effects on large portions of the population, including physical and mental deformities, high risk of infection, low work productivity, and increased mortality in young children. Iron deficiency is the most widespread of the micronutrient deficiencies.

FACTS ABOUT IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA (IDA)

IRON is very important nutrient needed in the formation of hemoglobin in the red blood cells. It improves physical and mental performance, prevents anemia and strengthen the body against infection.

IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA (IDA) is a condition of the body when the hemoglobin level, the red coloring of the blood is below normal level which is <>

How do you know that a person is suffering from IDA?

A person is suffering from IDA if he is experiencing one or more of the following symptoms:

Body weakness

Easily gets tired

Feels dizzy

Has poor appetite

Finds difficulty in getting to sleep

What will happen if a person is suffering from IDA?

During pregnancy

Inadequate pregnancy weight gain

High possibility of: delivering preterm infants, miscarriages, abortions, low birth weight babies

During lactation

Low iron content of breastmilk

Higher vulnerability to sickness

In children:

poor concentration

slow learner

long term effects on mental and motor function

poor growth

easily get sick

In Adults:

cannot work well (longer periods)

easily get tired

In adolescents:

delayed start of menstruation

slower tempo of growth

easily get sick